GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Interpol‘s new red notices and “diffusions”, issued for criminals wanted internationally, grew dramatically in 2011 to 26,000, compared to 16,000 in 2010, bringing the total number of current “wanted” criminals in the system to some 75,000.
Ria Novosti, Russia’s state news service, quotes Interpol head Ronald Noble as saying that the agency, which works with police in most countries, has become much more public in its work, and today about half of the notices are published, compared to just 5 percent in 2000.
Red notices call for the person’s immediate detention for subsequent extradition. A diffusion is an informal arrest warrant, posted on Interpol’s system, to which police worldwide have access.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Saadi Qadaffi, who fled to Niger, is contesting Interpol’s arrest warrant for him, after earlier dismissing charges of misappropriating funds. His lawyer said Tuesday 2 November that he is challenging the basis of the Interpol warrant, saying it is politically motivated by a new leadership that lacks legitimacy.
The news comes three days after the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, that the presumed heir to the Qddafi regime in Libya, Saif Al-Islam, said it fears Saif Al-Islam, once the presumed heir to the Qaddafi reign, is trying to escape from Libya to Niger with the help of mercenaries, although he is also reported to be asking questions about what will happen to him if he turns himself in. to face prosecutoin by the ICC.
Muammar Qaddafi’s other children have taken refuge in Algeria. They include Hannibal, who provoked a diplomatic row between Libya and Switzerland.
THE HAGUE – The International Criminal Court in The Hague has asked Interpol to issue Red Notices for three Libyan leaders for whom arrest warrants were issued in June: Muammar Qaddafi, Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi and Abdullah Al-Senussi. The three are wanted on charges of suspected crimes against humanity, murder and torture.
The ICC’s prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo announced the measure 8 September, saying that arresting Qaddafi “is a matter of time”.
An Interpol Red Notice seeks the provisional arrest of a wanted person with a view to extradition or surrender to an international court based on an arrest warrant or court decision, the ICC notes in a statement. Interpol, which has in the past year taken a number of steps to increase the effectiveness of the Red Notice system, says “Red Notices, issued at the request of any of the organization’s 188 member countries or an international tribunal for wanted international fugitives, are the most famous of Interpol’s series of colour-coded notices since their creation by Interpol in 1946. Red Notices are not international arrest warrants; they are aimed at circulating internationally a national arrest warrant or judicial decision concerning a wanted fugitive.”
Some 5,000 Red Notices are issued annually.
They have been used to help track down terrorists since 2005 when the Interpol-United Nations Security Council Special Notice was created following the passage of a UN Security Council resolution, to help the UN Security Council’s 1267 Committee carry out its mandate covering the freezing of assets, travel bans and arms embargos aimed at individuals and entities associated or belonging to al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Fifa and Interpol joined forces in anti-corruption fight 11 May: video at fifa.com/newscentre/video/video=1432804/index.html
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The international football federation, Fifa, Wednesday 11 May sent letters to Britain’s former Football Association Chairman David Triesman asking for a complete report linked to his report to the House of Commons yesterday alleging that Fifa executive committee members asked for bribes.
The allegations are linked to the UK’s failed bid to get the 2018 football World Cup.
Interpol to work with Fifa to stamp out football corruption; largest-ever private donation
The latest scandal broke just as Fifa and Interpol announced in Zurich 11 May that Fifa will donate $20 million to set up a 10-year joint programme to fight corruption in football.
The new programme will create a training centre at Interpol in Singapore, to focus on stamping out illegal betting.
It is the largest private donation Interpol has ever received.
FA says it will cooperate with Fifa investigation
The BBC reports Wednesday evening that the FA say a report is already en route to Zurich and a second report will follow shortly, with current FA Chairman David Bernstein expected to make a statement Thursday. The emphasis appeared to be on the FA’s desire to cooperate fully with a Fifa investigation.
The Guardian in December 2010 noted that David Bernstein would, in his new role as FA chairman, have some difficult tasks, including improving relations with Fifa.
Fifa Secretary General Jerome Valcke also sent a letter to The Sunday Times “to ask the newspaper to provide FIFA with any piece of evidence with regard to the statements made to MP John Whittingdale.”
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Father, daughters had tickets for ferry to Corsica last Monday; €5,500 missing
Missing Swiss twins, Alessia and Livia Schwepp, age 6, 115 cm tall, blond hair
Lyons, France and Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Update 3 19:15 Interpol late Saturday issued a Yellow Notice missing persons alert to its 188 member countries for the two six-year-old Schepp twins, Alessia and Livia, who have been reported missing since 30 January from St Sulpice, near Lausanne. The girls’ father, who failed to return them after a weekend of visitation rights, committed suicide Thursday 3 February near Bari, Italy.
An Interpol Yellow Notice is designed to help locate missing persons, often minors, or to help identify persons who are unable to identify themselves, the organization notes on its web site.
Matthias Schepp’s will, written 27 January, was found last week, a fact confirmed by Vaud police, who have not released information about the contents. Italian media report that he left his possessions to his wife, those close to him and especially to his two daughters.
French police confirm the three were seen Monday evening in Marseille
Police in France have now confirmed an Italian news agency report that the father was seen with his two daughters Monday 31 January, when he bought tickets for a ferry that evening to Propriano, Corsica at a travel agency in Marseille. He is believed to have been on board the ferry, say police, but they cannot be absolutely certain at this point. It is also from Marseille that he sent a postcard to his estranged wife, Irina saying he could not live without her. She had served notice the week before that she wanted a divorce.
Large sum missing, Italian media report
He took €7,500 from five different bank machines Monday according to Italian media, but when his body was found Thursday, in Italy, shortly after he threw himself in front of a Milan-Bari train, he had only €100 left on him they report. This has not been confirmed by police.
Vaud police spokesman Jean-Christophe Sauterel is quoted by TSR as saying credible witnesses in Naples say the father was seen dining alone Thursday evening. And an uncle of the girls told Italian television Rai2 that a woman was seen walking with the twins in Monza, Italy Friday evening, but this trail has turned up nothing.
Earlier related reports, GenevaLunch:
The Russian office of Interpol says that organized crime schemes with women posing as huband-hunters has swindled more than 200 men out of large sums of money, in what the Moscow Times calls a “surge in marriage scams in which Russian women posing as potential brides trick Western men out of money.” Western countries, notably Britain, Sweden and Austria are cited by Interpol as part of the problem because they do not readily extradite criminals who are part of the scam systems or who are wanted for other crimes.
The Interpol warning has appeared as news on a number of online Russian brides for sale web sites.
The international police agency Interpol has issued a “red alert” for Julian Assange, founder of the whistleblowing Wikileaks website after Swedish authorities issued an international arrest warrant. The Swedish public prosecutor’s office would like to question Assange about alleged sex offenses, which Assange denies.
The red alert is not an arrest warrant. “The persons concerned are wanted by national jurisdictions (or the International Criminal Tribunals, where appropriate) and Interpol’s role is to assist the national police forces in identifying or locating those persons with a view to their arrest and extradition”, according to Interpol.
Links to other sites: BBC, Daily Telegraph
Lyons, France / Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Dubai police have added 16 more international arrest warrants to the 11 already issued, linked to the 20 January death of Hamas military leader Mahmoud Al Mabhouh. Interpol has added the new warrants to its existing Red Notices for the case. Interpol, based in Lyons, insists on the likely use of identity theft by the murderers. “Since Intepol has reason to believe that the suspects linked to this murder have stolen the identities of real people, the Red Notices specify that the names used were aliases used to commit murder,” its web site notes. “Interpol has officially made public the photos and the names fraudulently used on the passports in order to limit the ability of accused murderers from traveling freely using the same false passports.”
The international criminal police organization says it contacted the Geneva-based World Economic Forum in January to alert it to the increased risk of terrorists traveling on documents using stolen identities, which makes it easier for them to avoid detection.
Stolen art poster, Interpol, June 2009 (click on image to view larger)
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss government said in a statement Monday that Switzerland is well represented among the 400 approved users of Interpol’s new secure online stolen art database. More than 800 searches were made in the first few weeks, with approved users including police, museum curators, collectors and gallery owners, although the database is open to any interested parties who can show why they want to undertake a search.
Iran’s new government contains one woman, Marzieh-Vahid Dastjerdi, as health minister, the first in the Islamic Republic’s history. The parliament approved most of the cabinet proposed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, recently re-elected president, although it rejected two other women.
The new defense minister, Ahmad Vahidi, is a hardliner and former chief of the elite Quds force in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. He is wanted by Interpol and the Argentine government for his alleged involvement in the 1994 explosion of the headquarters of Amia, a Jewish organization in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people. He received the most votes from parliament. CNN, Reuters, Clarin (Spa)
Lyon, France (GenevaLunch) – Interpol, the international police organization headquartered in Lyon, France, will assist in identifying bodies of victims of the 1 June Air France disaster. According to Interpol, , an officer from the Command and Control Centre in Lyon will help in the French gendarmerie‘s crisis centre in Paris.
A petrol station owner in Auckland, New Zealand, asked his bank for a NZD100,000 overdraft. The bank agreed, and mistakenly gave him a credit line of NZD10 million. The petrol station owner and his partner disappeared with NZD6.7 million, reports the New Zealand Herald. Interpol has been searching for the couple in Hong Kong, according to New Zealand media sources, but the country’s police believe they may have split up, after speaking to a sister of the fugitive woman.
Elise Andre (photo: Interpol), click on image to view larger
Switzerland (TSR, Fre) – Elise, a three-year-old who was kidnapped Friday in Arles, southern France, as she returned from school with her father, is still being sought by Interpol with police in France, Switzerland and Russia. TSR carries a headline, “confusion reigns,” with Russian authorities saying the girl is not, to their knowledge, in Russia, after they were reported by Russian media over the weekend as saying she was there.
